Since the start of 2007, the S&P 500 is down 0.11%. Including dividends, the index is up 1.56%. The Wilshire 5000, which is the broadest index, is up 0.22% for the year. With dividends, it's up 1.72%

Filed under: Consumer experience, Internet, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), eBay (EBAY), Marketing and advertising, IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Blockbuster Inc 'A' (BBI), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA), Expedia Inc (EXPE), News Corp'B' (NWS)Facebook has had a breakout year -- BloggingStocks probably should have listed the social networking site among our Hot Products of 2007. It sold a small stake to Microsoft for $240 million, and its success with encouraging third-party add-ons forced News Corp (NYSE: NWS)'s MySpace and even the mighty Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to change tactics. But as Tom Taulli and The Wall Street Journal addressed yesterday, Facebook's stock with privacy advocates is dropping over its über-creepy Beacon targeted advertising metho

Filed under: Rants and raves, Market mattersI've been reading about the Great Depression, and I'm thankful I didn't live through that time. As we watch the market stumble, I think about the miners of Harlan County, Kentucky in the '30s, struggling to make $1 a day in script to be spent at the company store. One man recounted how he and his father had to ride their horses seven miles back and forth to the mine. Since the mine itself always had water pooled on the floor, they would come out with soaking wet feet. After riding home on a winter's evening, he would have to chip his father's feet out of the stirrups. I'm thankful I've never had to do that.I'm thankful I never had to make the decision to send pigs to slaughter while the nation went hungry, in order to drive prices up so that farm

Filed under: Products and services, Microsoft (MSFT), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), TechnologyThis post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread. For gamers, the experience is everything, and their heroes are not the wonks designing Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Xbox or Nintendo's Wii, but the creators of the worlds that hold them in thrall. None has done it better than Bungie Studio's Halo 3, the first-person shooter game that is one of our Hottest Products of 2007. The numbers demonstrate just how this game annihilated its competitors. 4.2 million units were in stores on the day the third iteration of this game was unveiled September 25. In the U.S. alone,

Filed under: Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Bargain stocks, Stocks to BuyShares in high-end grocery retailer Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) have slid around 20% since early November. The most obvious explanation for the pullback -- investors remain concerned that a weakening housing market and continued turmoil in the credit markets could result in a slowdown at Whole Foods.However, the company is more resistant to these pressures than many investors realize. Americans have shown an increasing desire to eat healthier -- a trend that has allowed sales of organic foods to grow at three times the rate as those at conventional groceries. As the largest retailer of organic products, Whole Foods is well-positioned to benefit from this trend.Moreover, while the company is the clear leader in the organic

Filed under: International markets, Forecasts, Other issues, China, Russia, Middle East, Canada, Eastern Europe, Federal ReserveThere's an old Wall Street adage that goes, "Sometimes the Street's chorus is a chorus of two." And there's perhaps no better example of that than the current debate over the strength of the U.S. economy. Professionals in the Concrete Canyon have been amassing on either side of two camps for months: "The U.S. economy is headed toward recession" or "The U.S. economy will continue to grow."Still, as history demonstrates, and contrary to the current 'chorus' on Wall Street, sometimes there are more than two options. For example, what if the U.S. economy is headed toward a growth recession? I.E. a protracted period of sub-trend GDP growth

Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Internet, Google (GOOG), TechnologyThis post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread. 2007 may go down as the year people's perceptions of what a map is changed forever, and proved the value of user-generated content. Much of that sea change can be credited to Google Maps. Maps -- for centuries static, analog pieces of information -- have gone digital, allowing us to add layer upon layer of additional information, in a variety that strains imagination. For example: Maps that contain links to photographs of the noted location. If you want to know what the intersection of the Dawson and

Filed under: Products and services, Tech for the rest of us, IsraelOnly with Israeli ingenuity can you take a technology that was once reserved only for video games and make it functional in the real world. The news that Israel has launched the anti-hijacking pilot ID system developed by Elbit Systems(NASDAQ:ESLT) is good not just for the company, but for air travel as well. Starting next year, Israel will require pilots who fly to its airports to use the Security Code System (SCS), a local invention designed to ensure planes that have been commandeered for al Qaeda-style attacks are spotted in time. Israel plans a trial run for the system, using a credit card-sized keypad, next month, in cooperation with five airlines from the United States, Europe and Africa. About 10,000 of the units wi

Filed under: Cisco Systems (CSCO), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), IsraelWith the market experiencing a continued downturn and with Thanksgiving upon us, I thought we could highlight two stocks that have been turkeys so far this year (dogs maybe be more appropriate, but 'tis the season). However, unlike our favorite bird, these are poised to fly. Radvision (NASDAQ:RVSN), which specializes in video conferencing over IP and 3G networks, has lost more than 40% YTD. It has produced successive earnings disappointments. While it has great technology, it has been struggling to execute its business plan. It's important to note however, that it has a very close relationship with Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), and every few months rumors surface as to a potential M&A. I think that management ha

Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT)According to a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal [a paid publication], there is some frustration among loyal Facebook users. In the web site's search for monetization, there are some new features that do things like track user behavior off of Facebook.com. The hope is that this will help to create improved targeting for advertising messages. But, it's also raising some privacy concerns. So, might this be an opening for Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to get a bigger piece of the social networking space? Well, I had a chance to interview Robb Hecht, who is an expert on social networking and the operator of MEDIA 2.0. Hecht -- who doesn't consult for either company -- thinks that Google's new system - called OpenSocial - has lots of promise and could